One Day In A Cantina
by EverHere
Summary: Rex has trouble dealing with memories of the past and receives help from a stranger.


Author's Note: This idea just popped into my head so I wrote it out, and here it is! I hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars or any of its characters.

One Day In A Cantina

There she was.

So beautiful, isn't she? Rex thought to himself. Her slender curves, the soft glow of her skin under the cantina lights, the unique snow-colored markings that patterned her face...

Truly a goddess.

His eyes flickered away momentarily as he abruptly leaned back and swallowed the remaining alcohol in his glass. Rex wasn't sure how many drinks he had had so far...but he knew he was starting to forget. And that was the point. Gazing back at the togruta woman at the table across the room, he let his thoughts drift...

The first time he had met Ahsoka...she was a feisty one, he knew that. He recalled thinking that she might be trouble—you know, one of those arrogant, young show-offs. Of course she had a little of those characteristics...after all, Ahsoka was a still young padawan. But she had other aspects to her that he didn't think she would have.

She cared deeply for the clones, going so far as to eat with them and tell them jokes during her free time. Ahsoka was slowly integrating herself into their lives...and they were wholly unprepared for her sudden appearance. Like a sudden bright light in their existence, Ahsoka helped them remember why they fought, she helped keep them inspired, and she brought them a momentary peace in the midst of chaos...

"RWAOOOORR!" Rex jolted upwards at the sound of a wookie's roar as a fight started two tables down from where he sat. The bartender didn't flinch as he pulled out his DL-44 blaster pistol and waved it at the two angry aliens, threatening them with a "No fighting in here or I'll MAKE you leave!"

The pretty togruta lifted one eyebrow slightly, mostly unnerved by the sudden disturbance in the pleasant atmosphere. Her companions, a human male with long blond hair and steely eyes, a naive-looking rodian, a large male zabrak who looked like he could rip you apart with his teeth, and a devilish-looking woman with raven hair and pursed lips had all whipped their heads around to the sudden fight in the corner of the room and were looking on with excitement, or in the case of the rodian, complete and utter fear. Too drunk to care about the skirmish that was now getting out of hand, Rex kept staring at the lady. As though she could feel her eyes on him, the togruta turned and caught his eye, realizing he was staring at her. A sight blush crossed her face and a small smile graced her features as she batted her eyelashes at him several times...

Ah, yes...Ahsoka. he could never forget her. She had been much younger than Rex, but she had somehow worked her way into his heart as the years passed. Slowly, methodically...as though she had known all along that he would be hers, and all she had to do was carefully pick him apart until he didn't think there was anything left of him except for her.

"What's wrong, Rex?" Ahsoka had asked one warm night, so long ago. Perhaps it was her seventeenth birthday, he couldn't remember.

He remembered sighing softly, and then revealed his thoughts. "This can't last."

The playful smile on her face faded slowly as she froze. Then suddenly, very slowly, she nodded. "I know."

She swallowed once, then turned to look him in the eye. "But we can enjoy it while it lasts."

Enjoy it while it lasts...Rex had never heard a worse phrase in his life. How can you enjoy a moment with the knowledge that it will eventually end? How can someone be happy knowing it will all be lost, that your happiest moments can never be retrieved?

Those moments hadn't ended in the way he thought they would. There were some days when Rex begged silently that she had just come to him and broken his heart a thousand times over instead of the alternative. He could live without her in his life, as long as she had a life to live. But usually the things we wish the hardest for are usually the things that disappoint us the most...

"Hey, handsome."

Long coral-colored legs filled Rex's view as the pretty togruta he had been watching slipped into the seat across from him. So engrossed in his memories, he hadn't even noticed her walk over to him. The sounds of the fight died behind them as the bartender forced the two assailants outside.

"Hey." He eyed her suspiciously. Rex didn't mind admiring her from afar, but actually having a _conversation_ with her...well, that was a whole other thing.

"I'm Sayla. You looked rather lonely."

Glancing over at the the table she had just vacated, Rex noticed the blond man and the muscular zabrak eyeing him warily. _Ah_, he thought, a small smile raising the corner of his mouth,_ I guess she's got two guys going for her affections_.

Rex turned back and looked her up and down. She seemed like a decent lady, and a genuine smile lit up her face.

"I suppose I am. " He grunted.

A waitress stopped midway in her stroll as she turned to face them, a bored expression on her face. "You want another one?" She motioned towards Rex's glass.

He started to nod, but the sudden, clear voice of his companion contradicted him. "No, he's done for the night. Thanks, though."

Turning to glare at her as the waitress wandered away, he saw that Sayla's face was now serious. "It's not going to help. Trust me. It'll feel a lot worse to wake up from a high like that than to just stay sober."

Rex could start to feel some of the effects of his drinking kicking in as Sayla's face started to blur, and suddenly he was imagining a different togruta sitting across from him...

The shock wasn't registering. No tears, no thoughts, nothing. The limp body was cradled in his arms, the warmth fading fast from it as he slowly carried her back to their base of operations. So _young_, Rex thought. So happy and young. So caring and familiar and bright...Someone had come and taken the corpse out of his arms as his body started wracking with sobs. He didn't even know what he was doing—it was like an instant reflex, an split-second reaction to the events surrounding him.

Rex didn't stop sobbing even when thunder rumbled and the rain came down in sheets, forcing everyone inside.

Of course, it was _war_ that had taken her from him. Rex had lost the one thing that was worth something to him, and she had lost her chance at a life of peace and happiness.

He recalled trying to contact her with the comm, and when no response was received, they had trekked through the harsh jungle only to find her body lying face down in the dirt. The area was covered with the dead bodies of her squad, charred markings giving evidence to the blaster bolts that had littered the ground.

She was gone...

"What do you want?" Rex responded gruffly. He could feel the sobs starting to come back.

She noticed. "Come on, let's go."

Pulling him up from his seat, she dragged him outside to the cantina's balcony, under the bluish overcast sky of the afternoon. It was another planet, another lifetime, another era.

Rex found he just couldn't let go of the past. It kept dragging him down to drown with the others. His shoulders were shaking and he felt Sayla's hand rest on his back in a gesture of comfort.

Rex's voice was full of emotion. "You don't even know me."

"Do I have to?"

There was silence for awhile, as they stared at the cloudy sky, hearing the muted sounds of the upbeat cantina music.

"Thank you." Rex's voice cut through the silence.

She shrugged, a kind smile on her face. "We're all struggling together here. It's the least I can do to help out a fellow survivor."

"A survivor..."

"You lost someone." It was a statement, not a question.

He nodded. "Yes."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. Like you said, we're all struggling."

"But I am sorry. Your problems are my problems. It's a shame how so few of us understand that."

And then he couldn't hold back any longer. It all spilled out, and someone who had been a stranger less than an hour before now knew how he had lost the woman he loved and how he would do anything to forget her.

Sayla listened patiently, and when it was done, they both stood silently, looking up at the ethereal sky.

_Rex looked across the field to see two young children giggling as a togruta woman tickled them in the tall grass. Sensing another presence, she looked up and smiled in recognition at Rex. She waved at him, and then he was running towards them, and he realized this was his family. This was where he was meant to be._

The vision flashed before his eyes so quickly, and suddenly Rex was rapidly blinking the images away and turning his face downwards, trying to grasp what happened. His companion glanced his way, and then gazed at the open cityscape that lay before them. She seemed to understand.

Rex looked up and stared at Sayla, watching her close her eyes against the soft breeze that now came in.

Yes, he would be happy again.


End file.
